Conventionally, metal sliding members have been intensively used in industrial equipment, office equipment, transportation equipment, and the like. In recent years, however, to meet demands for reduction in size, cost and weight, etc., there is a trend toward the replacement of the metal sliding members with resin sliding members. Of these, certain resin sliding members are formed from a phenol resin molding material that contains a phenol resin as a base material, and the phenol resin molding material exhibits superior harmony of heat resistance, dimensional accuracy, a cost and a reduction in weight.
On the other hand, in these days, sliding parts for automobile components, office automation (OA) instruments and the like are required to exhibit further superior sliding properties to such an extent that: the sliding parts themselves and a counter-member thereof minimally wear even in sliding under conditions involving heavy loads, high revolutions, high temperatures; etc. To meet the demands described above, for example, a phenol resin molding material has been proposed in which a glass fiber and a wax are blended into a phenol resin (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2006-328215).
However, it is still necessary to improve the processability and sliding properties of the aforementioned conventional phenol resin molding material, due to the liability to: chipping in the processing thereof; wearing when employed as a sliding member, depending on the type of a counter-member; and other events.